A day late and many dollars short, but a weekly review is here!

So, I have a new TV love. It’s about an alien invasion, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone why I like Falling Skies.

I finished the first book of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series, The Eye of World, and wrote about it a bit. It was a slow day.

The third story of Courage, Woe and Truth, The Wench’s Tale, was published.

I finally acknowledged a bunch of awards and accolades I have been gathering and put badges in the left sidebar.

I was the Featured Writer at Studio30 Plus with an article about how epic it is to be writing fantasy fiction.

Speaking of fantasy fiction, here’s a progress update on the novel(s): Total word count is 4,200. Last week’s update listed total word count at 2,900, so I produced only 1,300 words. I just wasn’t feeling it much last week. Here’s a sample of some of the new stuff:

The sun was setting in the west amid a purpling sky. Hinhiel quickly made his way along the courtyard of Ost-halion, narrowly avoiding those gathered there. He was going to be late for watch outside the Lord’s private chambers and if he didn’t hurry he would be late for the third time this week. It was an honor to be one of the Tiraran, the King’s Guard, the highest position anyone in his family had ever held and he was in danger of losing it.

He wasn’t sure how the barrel suddenly appeared before him; he was sure his way was clear, but he hit it full on and fell to the ground. Cursing, he stood up while those around him merely glanced in his direction: it was forbidden to talk to one of the Tiraran. As Hinhiel stood, he looked to the setting sun, gauging how much time he had before his watch started. It seemed to him that a giant bird, much like Soron of legend, was gliding out of the setting sun. He glimpsed it for just an instant and then it was gone. Thinking he had perhaps bumped his head on his fall, he gathered his things and ran for the fortress proper.

Through the vestibule, along the length of the great hall and through the hidden door behind the dais he ran. He took the stairs behind that door two, sometimes three at a time and reached his lord’s private chambers in no time at all. Cuthalion, whose watch Hinhiel was to relieve, gave a grateful and yet reproachful look.

“You’re on time today, Hinhiel,” Cuthalion uttered disdainfully.

Hinhiel smiled weakly. “Yes, though a barrel in the yard nearly made me late.”

“Blaming barrels now?” Cuthalion sniffed. “What next? I suppose Teknologists will be falling from the sky?” He laughed.

“Teknologists? That’s a good one, Cuthalion.”

“Well,” Cuthalion harrumphed. “See that you stay alert. Our Lord is in quite a temper today.”

“Yes. Yes, of course.”

Cuthalion nodded, did a sharp turn and strode down the hall, leaving Hinhiel to take his post.

Hours passed, the sky darkening with the coming of night. All was quiet in the hall and no noise came from the king’s chamber and yet Hinhiel felt uneasy. He felt as if there was an itch on the inside of his skull and as the night came on, it got worse. Hinhiel sighed and, as he often did during the long, boring hours of night watch, attempted to practice a few basic spells he learned in childhood in order to pass the time.

The moment he started the complicated gestures of producing a ball of light, the itch in his head became searing pain. Breathing heavily, he fell to his knees and clutched his head. What is going on? he thought. The only thing that could cause such a spell failure was the presence of …

“No, it couldn’t be…” Hinhiel was unable to finish his thought as something stung his neck and his world went black.

I’m going to expand this scene with much more detail on the city and it’s people, including some history as well as a basic back story for Hinhiel. One other change I made was to Thorgrim. His new name is Bhen.

That’s it! Look for a new novel update this Sunday!